India seeks international cooperation at UN, says no single country can defeat terrorism alone

United Nations: Seeking "genuine" international cooperation in combating terrorism, India has told the United Nations that no single country can defeat the scourge alone as nations grapple with attacks having links with terror groups beyond their borders. "No state is immune to the threat of terrorism as continuing terrorist attacks across the world, many of them with links beyond the borders of the affected state, continue to demonstrate. No one country, however rich or powerful, will be able to defeat this acting alone," India's deputy permanent representative ambassador Tanmaya Lal said on Friday.

Representational image. Reuters

Addressing a meeting of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre Advisory Board meeting, Lal said, "genuine and effective" international cooperation at multiple levels are crucial for dealing with the challenge of terrorism. "The menace of terrorism continues to grow across regions and countries. Terrorist organisations and their networks are not bound by international borders, norms and legal frameworks. The need for increased multilateral action, coordination and cooperation on counter terrorism is becoming ever more urgent," he said.

India had last week welcomed the creation of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNCCT) that will coordinate the world body's counter-terrorism efforts. Lal said enhancing the capacity of countries in dealing with the ICT related issues and financing of terrorism in this field is crucial in the fight against terrorism and must be continued to be prioritised. "More needs to be done for an 'All of United Nations' approach to this matter involving all different bodies dealing with this issue including the Security Council and the Sanction Committees. We are confident that the establishment of Office of Counter Terrorism in this regard will be helpful in pursuing this," he said.

Lal said the creation of the Office of Counter-Terrorism is a "much awaited first step" in global efforts to enhance the coordination of the United Nations's counter-terrorism efforts and raising the visibility of international community's efforts on this issue. He stated that given the limited funding available for the projects being implemented by UNCCT, it must be ensured that projects are implemented with an important counter-terrorism component and focus, as against issues which could fall under broader development aspects dealt with by other United Nations organs.

"These projects could focus on more specific technical capacity building areas for instance on border control or financing of terror networks, law enforcement and legal aspects," he said.